I never told you what I do for a living
by Tai Ping
Summary: GENDERBENT: Female Conrad "Connie" is an 18 year old student finishing her last year of school, "Mr. Worth" is a young Biology teacher who really, only has her best interests in mind.  Really...   only totally not   Based on RP with Lira is a Girls Name


Connie fidgeted a little during the class, the teacher going off on how poorly the class had done on the test, the man wasn't one to hold back his language for the girls delicate sensibilities, calling them vapid, airheaded and that they'd better learn some of the basics of the class before they'd wind up with a brood of inbreed ugly retards like them.

Normally this kind of a rant didn't bother Connie, her grade in the class was already pretty set, but this test… It had some math type questions, and she was hoping to get by on wrote memorization… And you couldn't really do that with Math.

If she failed at worst her grade would squabble down to an A-… Maybe a B+ if there were the same kinds of questions on the final.

Her mom would still be beyond pissed off though.

Entitled rants about the various failings of his young charges were generally a good opportunity for "Mr. Worth" to stalk at leisure up and down the neat rows of desks the classroom was configured into. Sure, he could berate a classroom perfectly adequately while lounging against his desk, but it was an acceptable trade-off to be able to eyeball the girls more closely as they fidgeted in their seats at the prospect of their horrendous offspring. He assumed it was the horrendous offspring and not his matter-of-factly slapping their papers down on the desktops as he passed.

He was fairly certain he still toed the favourable side of what would pass in a classroom to continue to enjoy a rather kooshy gig of pre-packaged slideshows, tin-canned lectures, and more enjoyable scenery than he could imagine most anywhere else that would pay him a steady yearly salary.

Slapping down a paper rife with far more livid red pen-marks than usual on the desk of a one miss Connie Achenleck, Mr. Worth broke stride in his rant long enough to bark a low "Tell yer mum t' stop callin' abou' yer grades virtually every nigh'. Th' school started usin' an online system fer a reason. Ah'm not her bedtime story. Lest yeh wan' her hearin' a different tune. 'M disappointed."

It was even true, considering her usual marks. Mr. Worth frankly didn't know quite what her nuts and bolts added up to, which meant prodding anything left unguarded was still far too enjoyable for just that side of legal business. Impressive "real estate" to boot. And then back to the rant about their incestuous future pairings, with just a "Ah'll be seein' yeh next year, too, at this rate" for Connie's seat-mate.

Connie bit her own lip hard looking at the paper with harsh red marks on it.

She…

She had…

She had… F..F….Failed…

Well, Failed by her mothers standards. Which were "Over 65 or don't come home"

This… This couldn't be right, she had to do something, fix this or else her Mom would kill her.

She pressed down her urge to panic or puke for the rest of the lecture, waiting until the class had filed out and getting the nerve to get out of her seat and say something to the young but still, frankly, terrifying teacher.

Mr. Worth could only reasonably expand his vitriol into the first half of the class, after which point he returned to the slides and a string of assertions that he could pour out at an even pace without even listening to himself. It was a useful skill, as it meant his attention was really on his kids and not the material, and he'd notice damn quick if they felt like pulling anything in his class. At the end of the period he dropped behind his desk, quite aware of his one lingering straggler. He made a come hither motion, slinging back in his chair.

Connie got up from her seat, chewing on her bottom lip as she approached Mr. Worth's desk, fingers twitching at the books in her arms wanting to rip or fiddle with something in nervousness. She didn't say anything, Children were to be seen and not heard after all, not to speak unless spoken to. It didn't matter that she was already 18, no longer a child really, she wasn't one to break form for much of anything.

Mr. Worth waited through the approach with a perfectly flat, even stare, familiar enough with his students and Connie in particular to intuit that little hold-up. "Yeh 'ad somethin' yeh'd like t' discuss?" he prompted, businesslike enough, at least in tone. Despite being so damn certain he knew just where this was headed, he'd go through the motions with whatever professionalism he had.

"Um… M-my test… I um.." Connie stammered, eyes focused directly on the centre of Mr. Worth's desk. She brushed a loose hair behind her ear, she hated talking to teachers. "Y-you know my m-mother… I um… I c-c-can't show her t-th-… "

"Stop," Mr. Worth interrupted, before she'd finished suffering through the explanation. "If yer standin' there askin' me t' do yeh any favors – even fer a student who us'ly pulls th' marks yeh do – yer gunna look me in th' eye while yeh do it. Didn' yer mother ever teach yeh tha'?" Considering that yes, he knew her mother quite a bit better than he would have liked, Mr. Worth knew full well that the suggestion was just a bit cruel.

The opposite lesson for Connie was true, her mother had taught her well to keep her head down, to never challenge anyone. She could feel her heart slamming in her chest as her eyes creeped up Mr. Worth's body to his face, flickering over his hard blue greenish eyes. Her own brown eyes were wide, like a startled deer in headlights, her entire stance like she was going to run screaming out of the room at any moment… or faint.

"Su-su-su-suh-sorry…" She finally hissed out, her voice barely above a choked whisper.

"Better," he did offer, the barest concession for the attempt. "Now, yeh wan' me t' do somethin' abou' yer mark. Gunna say yeh think yer entitled t' it, wot wiv yer usual performance in class." Mr. Worth paused a moment, like thinking over whether or not he could justify this special treatment. He was, in reality, mostly just enjoying the fact that the expression she was wearing seemed more deserving of imminent roadkill. "Yer gunna 'ave t' work fer it, if Ah'm gunna make any exceptions."

Connie's lips pinched together in a thin line as she bit both of lips on the inside of her mouth and she nodded. Yes, she would work, she would work very hard as long as this never got to the ears of her mother.

Falling prey to his own amusement – and not much enjoying a silent victim – Mr. Worth asked, mock-conversationally, "An' wot d'yeh propose Aye tell yer harpy – ahem, mother – when she calls tonigh'? Yeh intend t' git this all wrapped up this afternoon? Didn' think Aye migh' be busy?"

Connie's slightly hopeful expression broke, her brows knitting together in concern.

"I-i-i-i-i"

That really was her hope, that he'd give her some extra work to finish before the teachers left at 4 or would just bump her grade or at least promise not to SAY anything to her mother. Her eyes darted to a patch of blackboard a little above Mr. Worth's head, completely unable to speak and look at his eyes at the same time.

It'd really fucking help if he /had/ something resembling pity. Well, so long as concessions upped the stakes. "Aye could cancel fer yeh." Yeah, cancel the plans that he didn't have, he could damn well lie about his social calendar if it pleased him. "But do th' words 'high stakes testing' 'ave any meaning fer yeh?"

At the exaggerated sigh and the promise of plan cancelation Connie's eyes met Mr. Worth's once more, her face somewhat akin to an abused dog being promised a treat after a series of kicks. If she'd has a tail it would have been limply wagging with fearful hope.

However she didn't know what a 'High Stakes Testing' was, she could wager a guess but had not actually come across such a term.

"Nuh-nu-no.. I d-d… I'm not su-sure…"

Oh god this was probably going to be an oral test.

"Calm down," he suggested, with no effort to be convincing about it. "Ah'm sure yeh kin see why Aye cain't jes' issue yeh th' same exact test yeh've already taken. Ah'm frankly not equipped fer a sit-down this afternoon. Tha' leaves yeh abou' two options here." From experience, he had one she'd quite like – or at least compared with he other that would surely earn him only more mortification. Mr. Worth still was not feeling especially merciful. Not for her.

"Option one," he announced. "Yeh sit 'ere an' Aye assign yeh a number of essays on the covered course material. Aye 'aven't assigned any additional essays on this section in th' past, which means Aye may choose t' draw from th' body of essay topics assigned t' th' equivalent collegiate course." A pause. "An' option two, which'd be quicker..." Another pause. "...but which yeh migh' not like."

Connie would be lying if she said she didn't feel immensely guilty for Mr. Worth having to cancel his plans to do this for her. After all if she'd just studied more then they wouldn't be in this whole mess in the first place. Even closed book she'd be able to do the essays, she had half the textbook nearly memorized. But she wanted him to be able to still catch his plans.

"Wuh-What's the q-quicker? Um…I don't want to k-k-keep you"

And there it was. "Yeh give yer answers verbally t' th' test Aye give yeh." Mr. Worth continued evenly, like this was some great boon he was offering, "It'll be like a dialogue. Jes' talk nat'rally. Personally, Aye think it'd be good practice fer yeh. A young lady kin use a bit of elevation t' her diction. Elocution. Yer mother would approve." ...okay, maybe laying that on a bit thick, but fuck it.

Connie grimaced, she knew there would be oral involved… And with her verbal abilities she was pretty sure she could write faster.

"W-w-whichever's good f-for you…" she said lamely, having very little decision making prowess of her own unless there was a coin flip involved. She was far too used to going with the flow of what others wanted to think for herself even when the options were laid out perfectly to her benefit.

It took something like genuine restraint to wait and feign consideration, like he hadn't decided what he'd prefer more than ten minutes back when she was still summoning her courage. More restraint than he had to not just lay it on a bit more. "Yer marks are more'n good, Connie," he began, sliding into lecture mode. "An' Aye trust yeh t' know yeh kin do somethin' wiv all of this. But it's yer future yeh 'ave t' prepare fer an' this is yer last year here. Aye doan' think yeh kin afford t' leave school without improving yer verbal abilities."

Choosing for her just made it too damn easy. Mr. Worth would enjoy the writhing on the spot while he had the option.

She looked dejected, while never having to deal with him as directly as this before she already knew from stories that he was a hard ass. She was glad she wasn't a person who spoke her mind often (or at all, ever for that matter) because she felt like Mr. Worth had no place to speak when talking on verbal skills, his crass accent and lack of enunciation made him nearly impossible to understand for some students.

"Y-yes sir…" She mumbled her head drooping and eyes shifting to the floor, guilty at even the snarky thought considering he only had her best interest in mind and was doing her this huge favour.

The accusation of hypocrisy was something Mr. Worth was quite familiar with. He cared about it a proportionally negligible amount. Far more important was the agreement to his little staged test. "'M sure yeh wanna git through wiv this righ' quick, an' Ah'm afraid Aye cain't allow yeh th' time t' go over yer notes. Aye hope yeh looked over yer test when yeh had th' chance."

Connie nodded, having been staring at the test and correcting her own answers during class while taking notes. He had her stay standing in front of his desk as he asked her questions, looking at his own copy of the test so as not to repeat any of the questions. He had a look on his face whenever she had to answer and had a hard time stammering through it. And she knew that it wasn't his normal neutral smirk since during the whole verbal make up test she had to stare directly at him, as he snapped his fingers at her to get her attention and keep her head up. By the time he looked satisfied she felt like she might collapse, nerves frayed by thinking hard and having to perform verbally on the spot.

Mr. Worth had enough mangled pride to give what should be a fair test – to a student who did not have such obvious difficulty with the medium chosen. It was far, far too much fun for essentially doing extra work on his own time for no quantifiable compensation. But most people did not consider frazzled, desperate-seeming looks from a student compensation all on their own. He had pity enough to end it when she seemed at the end of her rope, but that was more because he wanted her to still be somewhat coherent before he let her leave.

"Chin up," he suggested. "Yeh did fine, lady, 'ave more faith. Ah'll give yer mother th' usual bedtime routine." He would appreciate a lot less interaction with Mrs. Achenleck, but saw no easy way out of that unpleasantness.

Connie's knees actually buckled a little in gratitude as the stress of having to listen to a screaming fit from her mother was taken away. Taking a quick step back she leaned against a desk to keep from hitting the floor, head bowed in relief and gratitude.

"T-thank you, thank you a-a-and I'm s-sorry… I'll s-s-study harder next time… A-a-and try to t-talk to my muh-mu-mother about not c-c-calling you so much…"

Clearly the relief had given her a little case of verboseness since that was probably more then she'd willing said to him in the two years he'd taught at the school.

The niceness and pity, however hallow, didn't last long. "Yeh do tha', lady," he began, almost in a good-natured tone. "Yer mother'd 'ave a man thinkin' she 'as her courtship rituals backwards. Ah'm flatter'd an' all, but Ah'll 'ave t' decline."

It somehow didn't seem in any way wrong to slide into the far less kind leer he /knew/ he'd slipped up with a few times earlier even while joking – all right, more or less lying – about Connie's mother's supposed interest in him. He could multitask offensiveness with a last happy dose of perving on a really quite bright student under his tutelage.

Connie smacked a hand over her mouth and snorted, her shoulders shaking a little as she silently laughed. Oh god her Mum… That was rich. She actually gave Mr. Worth a sweet little smile.

"I'll let her n-n-know." She said softly, bottom lip sliding out of her teeth as she smiled at him.

Mr. Worth was mildly surprised by his own reaction. He hadn't expected a genuine smile, and even less had he expected to be willing to accept it at face value and simply enjoy an expression that didn't look like Connie was trying to find a hole to crawl in and die. "Thanks," he did drawl all the same. And falling into the offer somewhat: "'M serious abou' th' elocution. Yeh 'ave t' believe it'd do yeh good." It was /almost/ coaxing. And he maybe offered up a smile that was a bit less leer than normal.

Connie's eyes still wandered around trying to meet and avoid his eyes all at the same time.

"Yea I n-n-n-know" she mumbled. Her mother commented on her stutter as well… Well whenever she'd let Connie speak long enough to notice that her quiet mumbled responses were more stilted then the average persons speech.

It was enough of an attempt to adhere to his insistence on eye contact for Mr. Worth to disregard that for the moment. He was figuring, fuck it, no harm in seeing just how politically correct he could spin his brainchild off as being. "Yeh could consider it a personal favor," he suggested. "Me helpin' yeh wiv tha', Aye mean. Yeh could likely even write it up as an extracurricular." He couldn't help laughing shortly at that thought.

Connie couldn't help the look of 'you're joking me right?' that flashed across her face briefly before she dropped her head and schooled her features back to neutral.

"I-i-it's okay, I wouldn't w-w-want to be a b-b-bother." She stammered looking at her own polished black mary-janes. "I-I-I'm sure you're b-b-busy."

For all her protest the idea wasn't unappealing to her, as the youngest male teacher in the school (the second youngest kicking at a spry 47) he was the leading male influence among a populace of women who were covetously sheltered from the opposite sex. Love him or hate him as a teacher, he was the masturbatory material for pretty much every girl at the school at one point or another. Plus it wouldn't hurt to get the help since she'd have to get over her speaking issues. Chances are she'd have to give the valedictorian speech for the graduating class, and her mother would beat her to death if she humiliated her by being a stuttering idiot on stage.

Mr. Worth waited. And then waited a bit more. The point being to feign shock that she would attempt to turn down his most gracious offer on her behalf. "Not busy enough," he finally drawled, somehow managing to stop before just pointing out that if he did write it up as an extracurricular for her, he'd likely receive a little bonus stipend for leading an after school activity or some similar bullshit. It wouldn't hurt his pockets any. "Yer gunna tell me no?" He also managed to keep his tone perfectly level, perfectly reasonable, let her paint in the disbelief. In reality, he was damn certain he could twist things hard enough that she'd give in, and remember to express her fucking gratitude, too. Since it was his high-real-estate super-valuable time and all.

Well she certainly was not going to say no, it was the yes that was also just as tough to get out. But then again a school oriented program with a teacher was just the sort of thing to keep her out of the house and away from her overbearing mother that might make the rest of the year a bit more tolerable until she could flee to college.

"Y-y-you wouldn't m-m-mind helping m-m-me?" She mumbled to her shoes, fingers twitching over her books again wanting to fidget but unable to.

"Y-y-you'd have to tell my Mu-mu-mother…"

Mr. Worth leaned forward over his desk, placing his weight on both elbows and closing the distance somewhat like it would increase the intimacy imparted to whatever he said next. "Yeh think Ah'd offer if Aye minded terribly?" Oh, it was still said a bit unkindly, still like she might actually be the butt of some joke. But at the core they were honest words – he didn't bother making offers he did not intend to keep. "It'd be harder not t' tell yer mother, unless yeh really kin convince her she'll git by at nigh' on her lonesome. Ah'm sure she'll be righ' approvin' of yer, ahem, /new direction./"

Another little genuine smile crossed Connie's lips and her cheeks turned from their fearful pallor to a slightly rosier one, looking up at Mr. Worth she was beaming… Well beaming for her which was just a small upturn of her lips and the bravery to look at someones face.

"Th-th-thaAHH!" Her eyes flicked over the clock and she stopped mid thanks giving a cry (really an indoor voice squeak but that was loud for her) as she saw the time.

She was supposed to have been home five minutes ago. Her mother gave her enough time to spend a half an hour "socializing" before she had to get home. (Usually the full hour and a half of free time she had after school was spent walking around since if she moved fast it only took half an hour to get home, but she usually walked slow around her mother so she'd give her extra time to get places)

"Th-Th-thanks so much, f-f-for everything." She stammered moving towards the door. "I-I-I'm l-late I'm S-s-sorry I have to g-g-go"

It was still enough of a change to be perceived, and... Well, perved on more than appreciated, but same difference when it got down to it. Mr. Worth mostly stopped from laughing in her face at the abrupt moment of abject panic. It was perhaps more amusing than such things would be in any other student in his classes because he knew from extensive personal experience more or less exactly how Connie's quite deranged parent seemed to function. Or maybe just because he fixated – sometimes! – and had found something he liked.

"Yer welcome," he did offer, more because it was a convention he'd bother to adhere to than because he meant it. Although... Eh, he'd wait and see if he felt welcome enough over this new arrangement. Fuckin' patience, he could hack that. Sitting back in his chair again and drawling, "Go on. Yer not any good t' anyone if yer eviscerated."

And, a moment later after giving her opportunity to move out of hearing distance, "Although yeh migh' 'ave righ' pretty insides."

Hey, he chose to teach biology of all things for a fucking reason.


End file.
